


Phantom War

by AgentMalkere



Series: One Word to Change the World [12]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Phantom Lord Arc, inappropriate conversations for public
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-06-07 17:07:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6814663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentMalkere/pseuds/AgentMalkere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The universe may be slowly changing, but Master Jose will still have his war with Fairy Tail.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Phantom War

Erza finally collapsed, unconscious. Watching her fly through the air and hit the ground like a ragdoll had shredded Jellal’s heart. He desperately wanted to find Master Jose and rip him into little tiny pieces for everything that was happening, but he couldn’t focus on that right now. Somebody in the guild had to maintain a cool and level head. They only had fifteen minutes before the Jupiter Cannon fired again. 

Natsu was already running forward with Happy, intent on smashing Jupiter to smithereens. Elfman, Gray, Lyon, and Ultear were hot on his heels, but Jellal caught Ultear by the sleeve, holding her back. 

“I need you to stay here.” 

“Hell no!” she snapped. 

“Ultear, listen to me! We are the only two wizards left in Fairy Tail who even have a _hope_ in hell of stopping a second Jupiter blast if we work together. If Natsu and the others don’t break that thing in time, we are the guild’s _last line of defense_.” Jellal wanted nothing more than to run after Natsu and break things and hit people but that wasn’t where he could do the most good right now.

“Hold the front lines with us,” Cana agreed, fanning out her cards in one hand. “It looks like we’re about to get company anyway.” 

Strange, flying, wraith-like creatures were now pouring from the upper levels of Phantom Lord’s guildhall. Ultear’s shoulders sagged. 

“Fine.” She waved Gray and Lyon on. “Stay safe, or I’ll kill you both!” she shouted after them. 

Then the shades descended on them like a plague. 

 

Simon felt… lost. Erza had taken a direct hit from the Jupiter Cannon. As for Jellal, Master Jose’s shadow phantoms had apparently taken offense to his heavenly body magic. They had ganged up on him and swarmed. Jellal had held his own until one had gotten lucky and brushed his arm, making him lose his stride. That was all the opening they had needed. At least five had made contact – possibly more. Now Jellal was lying unconscious next to Erza, pale as death, cold as ice, and barely breathing. 

It wasn’t that the three of them hadn’t been separated before. It was just that usually only one of them was incapacitated at a time. Even then it was rare. Simon was a strong wizard in his own right, but Erza and Jellal were two of Fairy Tail’s _powerhouses_. They’d both made S-class already for a reason. To see both of them taken down in such quick succession was horrifying. 

First the master, then Erza, now Jellal. Mystogan couldn’t be reached. Laxus was being an ass yet again. Shadow Gear had been beaten within an inch of their lives. Lucy had been kidnapped. Their guildhall was full of holes and would soon be vaporized if Natsu and the others didn’t manage to stop the Jupiter Cannon from firing again. With Jellal down, Simon didn’t think that Ultear would be able to stop a blast by herself. (Erza had them both beat on brute magical strength.) 

It would all feel slightly less hopeless if the freaking phantoms would _stop regenerating_. Also, it would help if fighting shade magic with shadow magic wasn’t pretty much an exercise in futility. 

Simon resisted the urge to grind his teeth together, because he _knew_ it wouldn’t help. 

Next to him, Erik suddenly stiffened and swore. 

“What is it?” Simon asked, ducking a phantom. 

“Lucy, Reedus, and Loke are in trouble. I can hear it. Come on, Cubelios.” He turned and started to run back towards Magnolia. Cubelios took to the air, and Erik leapt onto her back. 

 

Sometimes Erik thought that it would have been so much easier if he had just abandoned his morals and his conscience and joined a dark guild. Poison dragon slayer magic was great… if you didn’t mind the fact that it was really easy to kill innocent bystanders if you weren’t paying attention. Erik could regulate the amount of poison he put out so that he incapacitated instead of killed. The problem was that he didn’t want to incapacitate his fellow Fairy Tail wizards. 

On the plus side, Gajeel Redfox was _loud_. Not as loud as Natsu, but Erik could hear his muscles telegraphing his moves. He was incredibly easy to dodge. If Gajeel actually managed to land a hit, Erik was dead, but as long as he remained just out of reach he could win this. 

Gajeel was getting progressively more pissed off. Erik was dodging blows by fractions of an inch. It made it look like Gajeel kept missing. They were at something of a stalemate at the moment, because Gajeel couldn’t hit Erik, and Erik’s poison attacks couldn’t break through Gajeel’s iron scales. He didn’t dare use something that Gajeel could breathe in for fear of harming Lucy, Reedus, or Loke. 

“Stop dodging, you fucking fairy!” Gajeel swore as Erik danced out of the way once more. 

“I can hear you,” Erik smirked. The angrier your opponent got, the sloppier they became. He just had to wait for the right moment- 

A millisecond too late, Erik realized that he shouldn’t have said that, because Gajeel _wasn’t_ the only Phantom Lord wizard in the room. He caught the edge of a thought- 

_If he can’t hear-_

Erik dodged another blow from Gajeel, reached for his noise cancelling headphones- 

Too late. 

The focused wall of noise hit Erik head on. It was agony beyond words to the point where he didn’t even feel Gajeel’s hardened iron fist slam into his chest. Blood was running down his neck. His eardrums had ruptured. He collapsed to the ground as Gajeel rained more pain down on him. 

Cubelios dropped down from the roof and attempted to crush the wizard who was using sound magic, but the female Phantom wizard caught her in a mirror prison. 

The world was so… silent. Gajeel appeared to be yelling at the two wizards with him. He punched the sound wizard in the face, snapping his glasses in half. Gajeel hitched Lucy under his arm and disappeared through the hole in the roof. 

Damn it. 

Erik finally lost consciousness. 

 

Jellal woke slowly. His head ached. Actually, his entire body ached, and there was a lingering chill in his bones. His stomach roiled with nausea. It was worse than that hangover he’d had after that time someone had spiked his drink on a job. (Erza had dealt very efficiently with the offender, and Simon had apparently prevented Jellal from actually dancing on any tables – bless them both.) He slowly peeled back one eyelid and then the other. A white ceiling stared back at him. Familiar sounds started to filter into his ears. Hospital sounds. 

Well, hopefully the mere fact that he was a) waking up at all and b) doing so in a hospital meant that Phantom Lord had ultimately failed. 

“Jellal?” Simon’s voice was soft. 

“Hey Simon,” Jellal groaned, turning his head. “What did I miss? Is everyone alright?” 

“Well, the guild hall is a pile of rubble, and the Magic Council is having everybody thoroughly interrogated, but nobody died. Everyone who was injured is expected to make a full recovery, and this time the Council _can’t_ blame this one on you.” 

“That’s a nice change.” Jellal really didn’t feel like standing a second sham trial in less than three months. “Is Erza-?” 

“She’s fine. She’s off traumatizing another interviewer – should be back soon.” 

Jellal smiled faintly. Oh, Erza. 

“What about Phantom Lord?” 

“Nothing official, yet, but there’s talk that their guild is going to be dissolved. Master Jose’s been arrested.” 

Jellal slowly pulled himself upright and looked around the room he was in. Erik was asleep in the bed next to him. Cubelios was curled up on the bed beside him, her left wing spread out over his chest. Bandages were holding compresses against his ears. 

“What happened to Erik?” He did not like the implications of those compresses. Simon scowled – a highly uncharacteristic expression for him. 

“A sound wizard from Phantom caught him off guard. Porlyusica says that, as long as nobody messes with the compresses, his eardrums should heal with no lasting damage.” 

Jellal’s mouth twisted, and he eased himself back down. 

Simon continued, recounting what had happened to the best of his knowledge after Jellal had been swarmed by shade phantoms. Elfman had gained control over his full body beast soul transformation during his battle against Sol. Gray had accidentally defeated Phantom Lord’s rain woman, whom Lyon now had a massive crush on for some reason. Erza had apparently recovered enough to try attacking Master Jose head on. Natsu had had an epic battle with Black Steel Gajeel and won, rescuing Lucy in the process. Master Makarov had recovered and returned just in time to perform Fairy Law. It was all impressive stuff, even secondhand. Jellal was very put out that he’d missed it. 

“Jellal!” Erza was standing in the doorway wearing her most intense casual-wear armor – full gauntlets and everything. She beamed with delight and rushed forward to crush Jellal in a very enthusiastic hug. “You’re awake!” 

“I’m glad you’re okay, too,” Jellal mumbled, his cheeks heating up. If Erza hadn’t been wearing her breast plate, she would have been suffocating him with her cleavage. It was good to see that she really was alright in person. Getting his face mashed against metal was starting to get really uncomfortable, though. “Um, Erza? Armor?” 

“Oh!” Erza let go of him and stepped back for a moment. She requipped in a flash of golden light. “How’s this?” Erza smirked and struck a pose, the skirt of her sexy nurse costume hiking up dangerously high on her leg. Jellal was surprised that his face didn’t burst into actual flames. It certainly felt like it was going to. Simon was laughing at him, too, the traitor. 

“Well, my next interview will be starting soon – I should get going.” Simon stood and offered his chair to Erza. “Just don’t make him do anything too strenuous while I’m gone, Erza. He’s supposed to be resting.” 

“Of course not,” Erza smiled her best naughty smile. “Isn’t a proper nurse supposed to do all the work for her patient?” 

Jellal buried his face in his hands. 

“You two are awful,” he mumbled. He knew they weren’t being serious, but they were in public! Erik was literally three feet away from them… even if he couldn’t hear at the moment. 

Simon clasped Jellal’s shoulder with one hand and then left. Erza perched herself on the edge of Simon’s abandoned chair still wearing her highly inappropriate outfit. She leaned forward and gave him a brief, gentle kiss on the cheek. Jellal felt his eyelids begin to droop. 

Everyone was safe. He could rest.


End file.
